Clothing That Tells Your Story

Salvaging Mistakes

The ruined – and subsequently saved – vest, shown over a rust-colored shirt.

Shopping the other day at my favorite discount fabric store, I found a GREAT piece of fabric for a men’s vest. I knew I needed to make some for the upcoming Robin Hood Faire in Connecticut, and there was just enough left of a remnant to make one. I snagged it, of course. Brought it home, cut the pieces, got the whole thing sewn together — all told about three hours worth of work.

I put in the buttonholes.

I ripped the buttonholes open.

I went to mark the spot for the buttons — and realized I had put the button holes in COMPLETELY the wrong place. The whole vest, the great fabric, the hours of work — and the vest was irreparably ruined. There was no way I could undo that mistake.

So instead, I went downstairs and went to bed, because it seemed like a good time for a sulk.

An hour or so later, Mike came down from the studio, and said, “I have an idea for how you could maybe save the vest.” And he told me his idea. And I think I grunted or something, because I was still sulking. He said, “Your wings don’t work, you make new wings. Your latex tears, you make it into a burn and win Face Off. You can do this.” (Yeah. We’ve been watching a lot of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge and Face Off lately.)

The next morning, in a better head space to think about looking at the vest productively, I took his advice. I ran button holes down the entire length of the vest, on both sides, and made it a lace-up vest (with extra, decorative buttonholes) instead of the button-up vest I had originally planned.

It’s not the vest I wanted to make. But it’s still a pretty good vest. Mistakes — even ones that seem irredeemable — can sometimes be salvaged, it turns out. After a good sulk, maybe. But they can be salvaged.